The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team put two players on the All-North Coast Athletic Conference Teams and picked up two major awards in the process as junior Casey Steffen highlighted the selections after being announced as the NCAC Defensive Player of Year.
Steffen was named first-team defense, while Vinny DiLeo was selected to second team attack. Meanwhile, head coach Eric Seideman and assistant Joseph Pille were named Coaching Staff of the Year.
Steffen, a first-team selection in 2021, had a historic performance this season, appearing and starting in all 17 games. Offensively, he scored three goals and dished out nine assists, but it was his defense that gained attention.
Overall, he collected 82 groundballs and caused 86 turnovers. In conference play, those numbers turned into 38 groundballs and 48 caused turnovers across eight games.
His 5.06 caused turnovers per game rates as the most in single-season NCAA Division III history, and he is in line to become the NCAA Div. III record holder upon the conclusion of the NCAA Div. III Championships.
His 86 caused turnovers are the third-most in NCAA Div. III history, are the top mark in NCAC history, and more than doubled the old program record of 40 set by Ethan Scully in 2019. Steffen's 82 ground balls are the seventh-most in single-season program history.
Steffen was also a two-time USILA DIII Team of the Week member.
The junior DiLeo, an honorable mention a year ago, led the team with 70 points and 42 goals scored, while being second with 28 assists. He also caused 20 turnovers and collected 45 groundballs.
In conference play, he led the team in all three offensive categories with 29 points, 15 goals and 14 assists in eight games played.
A USILA Team of the Week selection in the second week of March, DiLeo scored a career-high seven goals in a 17-15 win over Albion College earlier this year. He also collected a total of nine points in that game, while scoring seven points twice in two conference games this year.
Coaches Seideman and Pille made an immediate impact on the program in their first year, collecting the single season program win record and finishing the year at 13-4 overall and 4-4 in NCAC play. The 11-0 start also was a program-best start to a season.
In 17 games, the Fighting Scots scored 219 goals and dished 139 assists for an average of 21.06 points per game, while also causing 253 turnovers (14.88/game), winning 253 of 426 faceoffs (.594) and scooping up 765 ground balls (45.00/game).
Wooster's caused turnovers per game and ground balls per game currently rank third in all of Division III, while the Fighting Scots opponent clear percentage of .627 leads the nation.